Adaptive functioning is actually much more commonplace than people realize. Wearing glasses is adaptive functioning. Walking with a cane is adaptive functioning.
Some adaptive functioning skills people with schizophrenia might find helpful include wearing headphones to drown out voices, making lists so they can remember what needs to be done every day (possibly with some assistance), or buying premade and easy to cook meals.
@Ninjastar Those are good points as to how we can do little things to make life better for us .
However I was thinking more along the lines of-
https://iancommunity.org/ssc/autism-adaptive-skills
autism-vineland.pdf (753.9 KB) See pages 8 &9 .
Whether that is also applicable to those with sz spectrum disorders , without ASD , I wouldn’t like to say .
I believe some types of schizophrenia are incurable, and some people have low IQ’s when they are fully psychotic, and in better shape sometimes when they are not. I believe some people with mild forms of the disorder can outperform most people and some people who are severely affected can’t function at all. There’s a wide variance among sufferers.
No, but it’s a very hard illness to deal with. Same thing with our families. I think the science behind it has been overlooked. Just look at how fast they are working on covid-19. They already have fast tests and possible vaccines. It’s because it’s more important in a way. Schizophrenia deserves more attention and effort.
Personally, and I’m in the minority here, I think schizophrenia is caused by a virus in my situation. I’m not saying that everyone was infected by a virus in the womb or as a child, but I think I was. One of my thoughts is it’s a common virus like the Norovirus, but I am getting a lot of criticism for this. It came in one of my dreams, I guess. I don’t know if it’s real or not. A dream might be a scapegoat for reality that I’m scared to talk about. It felt so real like it was a real visit from the government. They said they sequenced my DNA and that I had it as a kid. My hearing isn’t that good or even at the time. But I looked into it and it has some weight to it, although not that much. I think it could be 50-100 years before we have a true cure. I figure just like our hair, they can test our feces for the illness.
I believe I have the second type of schizophrenia where negative symptoms are very predominant. I think it’s more severe in some ways: I have had my intelligence, executive functioning, motivation, etc. all decrease substantially. I can barely motivate myself to shower and brush my teeth anymore. I can’t work or go to school because of it even though I am trying so hard. My room is a mess too.
In summary, yes, despite my average IQ (now), I think I can flourish and be successful in the future. I hope to make money, be happy, and have a wife and kids.
wt do u mean by cure?
I am not sure there will ever be a 100% cure for schizophrenia, at least not in the form of medicine.
Yes, better meds will be available one day.
But the psychological damage that compounds this illness has to be adressed via therapy (which kind thereof? psychotherapy? CBT? remains to be seen) and also the patient must make it a point to do whatever they can in order to improve their life, such as : being physically active, minimizing addictions (smoking, drinking, drugs, video games etc), being socially involved etc.
I’m yet to hear of anything I would call a cure. I’m sure some people just get better tho. I think IQ is a limited indicator of intelligence because there are different dimensions to intelligence and IQ presumes people have the same ability across all domains. People with sz have IQ’s across the hole range.
Exactly my words, it all depends on severity.
A minority recover completely, most recover slightly and a minority don’t recover at all.
Most ppl fall in the middle category like me.
My positive symptoms are recovered with meds but my negative and cognitive symptoms did not.
Am I functional in society and able to work? No but I can function at home with my family. Without meds I am dangerous and my family wanted me to stay in mental hospital for life.
IQ is nothing, I was tested after my SZ for IQ, I was below average. But somehow I got my university physiotherapy degree with high grades AFTER my IQ test. How come my IQ is below average and I am able to get a physiotherapy university degree with high grades, over 3.2+GPA?
Yes, it’s incurable and no we don’t all have lower than average IQs. Being unable to focus well doesn’t mean your IQ is lower, at least in my case.
IQs will vary and there is no cure.
There is no cure for SZ and IQ tests vary and are designed by many different people.
What I excel in, you can do horribly.
What you can do horribly, I can excel in.
typa thing
And vice versa.
IMO.
Is 150 a High I.Q. Score (???).
N e Hoo.
‘I.Q.’~ ‘I Question’.
So in a Humble Respect if When, You Gaze at The Stars During Beautiful Warm Summer Evening’s. And Question Each Constellation’s Birth.
You May Have a High I.Q.
I have a high IQ. But I do believe it’s incurable
Oh I see. I didn’t realize you meant it as a measurement of skill, and not the series of coping behaviors people learn to manage those skills.
I was first dxed with sz in 1975. There is a lot more positivity nowadays as to what can be achieved if you have it . That,of course, requires a good clinical assessment of your symptoms and the help and support to go along with that .
Unfortunately standards are not uniformly good,or even uniformly adequate . I am a little sceptical that a full (i.e no need to take meds) recovery will ever be possible for the majority of us . However I do believe that good psychiatric treatment,especially in the early years of being ill, can significantly improve the outcome . IMO the longer it takes to get such treatment the worse the outcome will be .
IMO good psychiatric treatment requires a holistic approach , that means a proper evaluation of things that may occur alongside the sz such as ADHD,ASD etc .
Help tailored to the whole person , and not just to his or hers psychiatric symptoms , should be the gold standard of treatment .
I am someone who has their master’s degree in testing IQ’s. I trained as a school psychologist before I got kicked out of my internship, and therefore the program, because of my impulsivity due to my mental illness. I can tell you that IQ scores mean nothing in the real world, and are only used to determine special education services in school-aged children. People with SZ/SZA are not inherently less intelligent than your neurotypical population.
That being said, I do not believe that SZ/SZA is curable. But, you can fulfill your destiny at being the best you can be, even with a disease like ours. Having a diagnosis of SZ/SZA does not automatically mean you can’t function, that you can’t be independent. I have 3 higher education degrees in different subjects and I’m going for my fourth now. Just because you’re disabled doesn’t mean you’re broken.
I call bullshi t. Im in a masters program for nuclear engineering and just got approved for a second year materials science specialization in nuclear physics and training with the CEA (France’s atomic energy agency). I’m not the top of my class and by no means a genius, but I am for sure an example that someone with this illness can be smart and can be successful. Dont give up, andyone reading this, you can do it with some guidance and perseverance!
Mea culpa . I should have made things clearer . Your comments were good , and worthy of a separate thread in themselves - re what people do to cope and function better with their schizophrenia/psychotic illness .
That’s amazing!